In recent years, the electronics industry has responded to the ever increasing use of electronic equipment by providing a variety of small, compact, and durable electronic components for use in such items as mobile telephones, radios, and paging devices. Radio frequency antennas have been integrated with such devices for receiving and transmitting radio frequency (RF) transmissions.
A surface-mounted antenna unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,802. A radiator machined from plated metal such as copper or copper alloy is brought into close contact with the top surface of a rectangular shaped dielectric substrate. The unit may be placed on a printed circuit board where the radiator is soldered to connection points on the printed circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,892 discloses a molded-in antenna with solderless interconnect for use in personal communication devices such as cordless telephones and pagers. A loop antenna is encased in a portion of the housing of the personal communication device and is positioned for connection with a printed circuit board.
An antenna for a hand-held RF transceiver terminal which conforms the antenna to the general shape of the terminal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,459. An antenna element made of a thin layer of copper is bent, shaped and conformed to the various surfaces of a pre-formed underlying frame. The integrated frame and antenna may then be attached to a desired radio frequency transceiver of a portable electronic device.
In those systems, an antenna is supported by a molded substrate which is integrated with an RF transceiver. Such systems may support an antenna, but do not accurately position an antenna to underlying circuitry independent of attachment of the antenna to the underlying circuitry. Without accurately positioning the antenna prior to attaching the antenna to the underlying circuitry, the antenna may become mis-positioned or damaged. Such antenna units typically require a number of manufacturing steps and processes for handling, positioning, and connecting the antennas to the underlying RF transceiver. Additionally, such antennas are often damaged if the radio transceiver unit is vibrated or dropped.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a supporting and holding device for radio frequency (RF) antennas for use in integrating such antennas to an underlying RF transceiver. There is also a need in the art for a device for supporting and holding a pair of strip metal RF antennas prior to and after integration of the antennas with an underlying RF transceiver. There is a further need in the art for a supporting and holding device which may be attached to an underlying printed circuit board in an RF transceiver, independent of attachment of the RF antennas to the underlying printed circuit board. There is a further need in the art for a device for accurately positioning an RF antenna during connection of the RF antenna to underlying circuitry of an RF transceiver. There is a further need in the art for a device for maintaining and supporting an RF antenna after connection of the RF antenna to the circuitry of an RF transceiver such that the RF antenna is protected against damage due to dropping or vibrating the RF transceiver.